Haber + Shattuck Chair in Voice

NEC Announces Appointment of Carole Haber as First Occupant of Wendy Shattuck Chair in Voice

Carole Haber (l), Wendy ShattuckSoprano and longtime NEC voice faculty Carole Haber has been named the first occupant of the Wendy Shattuck Chair in Voice—NEC's first endowed chair in the Voice Department. Haber, who received her M.M. at NEC after studying with Helen Hodam, has taught at the Conservatory for 21 years as well as pursuing an active performing career. Wendy Shattuck, who endowed the Chair, is also an NEC voice alumna and a member of the Board of Trustees. She and her husband Samuel Plimpton made the gift as part of NEC's recently completed $100 million Endowment Campaign, The Gift of Music. Shattuck, who serves in the Conservatory's Mentor-Mentee Program has this year been mentoring a Haber student, Abigail Krawson '11 M.M.

The purpose of the endowed chair is to support in perpetuity the voice faculty position of a "distinguished teacher of voice."

Haber, who combines both a performing career and extensive studio experience, clearly fits that description, said President Tony Woodcock in announcing the appointment. A lyric coloratura soprano, Haber won the N. Meyer Baker Award and the Eleanor Steber Music Foundation Award at the 1989 Washington International Voice Competition at the Kennedy Center. She has become well known for her interpretations in the Mozartian and Bel Canto styles and made her operatic debut as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. Her performances of this role throughout the East Coast have been acclaimed by The New York Times, High Fidelity, Opera News, and The Boston Globe, among others. Haber has also sung with leading orchestras and choral groups throughout the United States with such conductors as Robert Shaw, Christopher Hogwood, Roger Norrington, Andrew Parrott, Keith Lockhart, and Sarah Caldwell.

In 1996, the soprano premiered Daniel Pinkham’s The White Raven and Robert Kyr’s Passion According to Four Evangelists. She recorded the latter work on the New Albion label. In 1997, Haber made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the Brahms Requiem.

"I want to express my deep gratitude to Wendy and Sam for their support of the voice and opera program at NEC," President Woodcock said. "And I'd like to extend my congratulations to Carole as the first occupant of this important faculty Chair."

Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 720 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.

The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.

NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 106-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.

NEC is co-founder and educational partner of From the Top, a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.